A Princess Among Fairies
by Artistic Ane-san
Summary: Two years after Jeanne joins Fairy Tail, she witnesses Lucy's arrival. But who is this new character? What is she hiding?


_The following text is a fan fiction. I do not own any of the characters or places mentioned except Jeanne and her family. Flames, comments, and critiques are accepted, two of them with welcome arms. This story has spoilers on episode two, and the character Lucy. Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima._

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It had been two years since I joined Fairy Tail. I hate to say it, but within those two years, I hadn't really grown, magically. Well, my stamina was better, but it still took a lot out of me to move around concealed for more than a day, and I still couldn't control my Montage View.

Physically, though, I had changed quite a bit. I'd grown two inches, so now I'm a towering (haha) five ten, and, unfortunately, my chest had grown a bit, too (dammit). I hadn't cut my brown hair at all, and when it was down it hung to the middle of my back in all its bushy glory. However, I'd learned to tame it with a long single braid, ending right between my shoulder blades. My eyesight had been slowly worsening over the months, until I could no longer see Mira over the bar as clearly as I should have, so glasses were placed on my face. As an added bonus, they cancelled out the auras, so yay for that!

My fashion sense had changed a bit, too. I no longer wore the baggy t-shirts and ripped jeans. The jobs I specialized in required stealth and hiding in the shadows, so, I had taken to wearing black on a daily basis. At the moment, I was wearing a snug (but not skin-tight) black baby doll shirt and shorts ending mid-thigh, and knee-high boots. Hanging at my side was a crossbow. I still didn't use offensive magic, but you can only run away from fights for so long. So I bought the crossbow that shot out concentrated magic. Thanks to this, my stamina had increased by a lot.

It'd had been about a week since my last job, which had me away from home for three days. After spending quality time with my family, I figured it was time to earn more jewels. Within the past two years, I had gotten another brother, and one more on the way. Yeah. The fourteenth. Scary shit, there, huh? Anyway, money problems were higher than ever, so I had to find a high-paying job to help out.

I was standing by the request board with Nab, checking out job types, then prices. My speciality, unsurprisingly, was infiltration, observation, and retrieval. Not many guys here can do a job that requires discretion, so I never had to fight for jobs, thank gods. I was looking at a specific request when the guild doors crashed open.

"Tadaima!" Natsu screamed.

"Tadaima!" Happy cheerfully echoed.

I turned around and chorused with the others, "Okaeri!"

Natsu had returned from Hargeon. Behind them, I saw a girl in the doorway. She had blonde shoulder-length hair tied off at one side, and her brown eyes were lit with excitement. Natsu must've recruited her. She carried a small pink traveling bag. I gave her clothes a once over; white sleeveless shirt, blue miniskirt, black boots. Tasteful, but expensive. On her belt was a wallet of keys. Oh, a stellar spirit mage? Peeking at her hands, I saw they were delicate, soft, and white. This princess had never worked a day in her life!

Ah, well, who was I to judge? I looked up at her face, which was a vision of shock and dumbfounded-ness. I looked around. Oh, Natsu had started another fight. I snickered. The newbie had better get used to this, and fast.

"Oh, Natsu's back?" I heard Gray yell. Soon after, I heard the newbie shriek in embarrassment. Yeah, she better get used to that as well.

I turned away from the brawl. I need to find that job!

"Lessee, where did it-? Oh, here it is." I picked up the request I was previously studying.

"Jeanne-san, do you always talk to yourself?" Nab asked.

I smiled. "Yes, do you ever pick a job?" I teased.

I'm sure Nab would've responded with his usual excuse, but someone decided to throw a table at his head, and he went off to exact revenge.

I went back to the request in my hand. Somebody thought their boyfriend was cheating on them, and wished to hire a stalker to either confirm this belief, or prove them wrong. Easy. The client must be very rich and worried. Or else just very rich, and bored. I was about to walk to Mira-san, when a giant appeared, yelling, "That's enough, you fools!"

"_Huge!_" screamed the newbie.

Everyone ceased the noise, except Natsu. He was laughing loudly, calling the others wimps for being afraid. The giant's foot came down on him, pinning him to the ground. That's when he noticed the newbie. The giant shrunk down, revealing the tiny form of our master, and Mira introduced him to the newbie. But before I could hear her name, Master jumped onto the second floor.

He had in his hands a stack of papers. Apparently, we had gotten Master in trouble with the magic council again. All around, we shifted in embarrassment. It was never fun to have Master disappointed in us.

"However," he said, and he set fire to the papers in his hand, "to hell with the council!" He then said his favorite speech, about magic being all about heart and soul, and that was what it meant to be a Fairy Tail wizard. I'd heard it all before, but that didn't stop me from raising my hand, pointing to the heavens, cheering heartily with my nakama.

The newbie walked over to the bar with Mira, where her right hand was stamped with a hot pink guild mark. I watched as she gleefully skipped to Natsu to show it off.

"Mira-san!" I called. "I'm gonna take this job, 'kay?"

"It's Lucy!" an unrecognizable angry voice cried. Oh, so that was the newbie's name. Pretty.

Mira walked over. "Okay, Jeanne-san, I'll mark it in."

"Is my dad back yet?"

Mira and I turned out heads. Romeo was back again, asking for Macao, his father. Macao had left a while ago for a job on Mt. Hakobe, and still hadn't returned. We all turned away as Romeo and Master finished their discussion, the child ending it with a punch to the elder man's face.

"That was harsh," Lucy commented.

"Despite what he says," Mira began, "Master's worried, too."

I was about to add in my own two cents, when a loud crash made me jump. My glasses slipped off my face and onto the counter. I turned my head, which was stupid, honestly, since I couldn't see clearly what happened. However, it seemed Natsu had punched the request board, much to the irritation of Nab.

"What's with him?" Lucy asked.

I turned toward her. And immediately regretted it.

The purple aura was swirling around her, and my eyes were irresistibly drawn to it. I watched as scene after scene appeared before me: a little blonde girl, sobbing at a grave marked "Layla Heartfilia"; a tall mustachioed man, yelling furiously, throwing a riceball to the floor; the little girl, so lonely, so hopeless; much older, in the dead of night, she climbed down the side of her house, saying 'I've had enough.'

I grabbed my glasses off the counter, and hastily put them on. I could feel the tears welling up. She had been so lonely, for so long. Heartfilia? That's the name of a prestigious family, right? Owned a great deal of land and businesses.

"_Holy crap, she's an honest-to-God princess!_" I thought. I can see why she ran away, though.

I stood up. "Okay, Mira," I said, hopefully putting on a face that didn't scream 'I saw something I shouldn't have.' "I'll leave for Clover tomorrow, first thing in the morning, 'kay?"

"All right, then, Jeanne-san. See you when you get back. Or not," she joked.

I rolled my eyes with a smile at the favorite good-bye among the members addressed to me. I noticed Lucy was missing. "Hey, where'd the newbie go?"

"Oh, Lucy? I asked her to go with Natsu, to make sure he doesn't do anything too damaging."

I snorted. "As if anyone can stop him from that, much less a new kid." I ran out the guild. I could still make her out down the road. "Lucy-san!" I called.

She turned around, with a look of surprise. "Yes?" she asked when I caught up.

"I... uh..." I blanked. What the heck was I doing? I shouldn't bring up her past. She obviously ran away from it. No one but the Master knew of my Montage View, and I intended to keep it that way; it was like an invasion of others' privacy.

Lucy was still waiting for a response. I smiled. "I'm Jeanne, and I just wanted to welcome you to Fairy Tail. Here," I hesitated, wondering if this was right, "even though everyone's loud and rambunctious, you'll never be alone."

Lucy's eyes widened a bit, before turning warm and sparkling gently. "Thank you, Jeanne-san. Please take care of me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go find Natsu."

"Of course, bye!" I waved as she ran off.

So alone. For so long.

Well, never again.

I headed towards my home. It may be selfish to say, but never was I so grateful for my family than then, both the one I was returning to, and the one I just came from.


End file.
